COVER STORY

COVER STORY; Wanted: Rebel to Fill the Shoes of a Giant

By ANITA GATES

Published: August 5, 2001

JAMES FRANCO, 23, isn't the first actor to play James Dean, but he may be the quietest. Seated in an ornate alcove off the lobby of the St. Regis Hotel in New York, sipping mineral water, all dressed up for a screening of his TNT film ''James Dean'' and the celebrity dinner afterward, he was polite but terse, still using the Dean body language that he gets very close to perfect in the film.

Was he still in James Dean mode? ''James Dean mode is all right,'' he answered with a Dean-like embarrassed grin.

Mr. Franco was born and reared in Palo Alto, Calif., by Stanford-alumni parents who stayed there because, he said, it had the ''highest-rated public schools'' and was generally a good place to bring up children - a theory that paid off, he added, because ''I'm still in one piece.'' He spent a year at U.C.L.A. as a literature major and is ''a little regretful'' that he left. He's been acting for a couple of years and was best known until now for his role as a high school student on ''Freaks and Geeks'' (the canceled NBC series picked up by Fox Family). Then he was cast as Dean, whom he sees as a ''a troubled guy'' with ''a tremendous need to prove himself to people.'' Mr. Franco was thrilled about the role, he said, because of the opportunity to work with Mark Rydell.

Mr. Rydell, who directed the film, returned the compliment. ''When he walked into the office,'' he said of Mr. Franco, ''it was a miracle.''

At the very least, Mr. Franco has a remarkably intense screen presence. The TNT film, which has its premiere tonight, opens with a scene in which Dean is making his first film, Elia Kazan's ''East of Eden,'' and meeting his distinguished co-star Raymond Massey (Edward Herrmann) for the first time. His behavior toward Massey is appalling, but there's Method to his rudeness. The film then recreates the ''East of Eden'' scene in which Cal's (Dean's) father refuses the birthday gift of cash that Cal has worked so hard to earn. It's a risky thing copying any famous movie scene, but especially one dominated by such raw emotion. That's why, Mr. Rydell said, the scene in the TNT film shows the full movie set, including cameras and onlookers.

''You never see any shot that's from the original film,'' he said. ''You're always looking through the crew.''

Mr. Rydell, who also plays Jack Warner in the film, was in New York to work on Woody Allen's film ''Hollywood Ending,'' in which he plays Mr. Allen's agent. Although he has devoted most of his adult life to directing (''The Rose,'' ''On Golden Pond,'' ''The Reivers,'' ''The Fox''), he began his career as an actor. That's how he came to know the real James Dean.

''We were young actors together at the Actors Studio,'' said Mr. Rydell, who recalled a particularly harrowing incident right after he and Dean had appeared together in ''Glory in the Flower,'' a television play by William Inge.

''We were walking home from Dumont Studios, on Madison Avenue, and he was talking about bullfighting, which was a passion of his,'' said Mr. Rydell. A bus approached. ''Suddenly Jimmy leapt into the street and made a pass at the bus, which flicked his shirt. I knew then that he was not long for this world.''

Almost 46 years after Dean's death, there may be some who don't know the story of his brief but brilliant life. He grew up in Fairmount, Ind., reared by his aunt and his uncle after the death of his mother when he was 9. (His father chose not to be involved.) He briefly attended college in California, studied acting there and in New York, was discovered by Mr. Kazan and made a mere three films before he was killed in an auto accient on Sept. 30, 1955, at the age of 24. But those were three unforgettable performances: in ''East of Eden,'' ''Rebel Without a Cause'' and ''Giant.'' And he made an emotional connection with the youth of America that gave him instant legend status.

Israel Horovit, who wrote the TNT screenplay, was in high school in Wakefield, Mass., in 1955 and remembers being astonished by his first glimpse of Dean on film. ''Suddenly there was this teenager projecting a kind of suffering from the screen that was absolutely truthful,'' recalled Mr. Horovitz in a telephone interview from his summer house in Gloucester, Mass. Soon, he said, he found himself walking with his hands in his back pockets in imitation of Dean's cool.

''It remains extraordinary that he was able to inhabit a role to such an extent you would have thought that the movie was written about him,'' he said. ''I thought it was important to take this flash of genius and celebrate it.''

Mr. Horovitz, whose work includes the stage play ''The Indian Wants the Bronx'' and the screenplay for the 1999 film ''Sunshine,'' wasn't interested in doing a standard version of what the film and television industry calls a biopic. Because he'd had his own difficulties with a violent, abusive father, he was particularly interested in the relationship between Dean and his father. And the resulting teleplay comes to a new conclusion about the reason for their estrangement. Mr. Horovitz admits that there's no hard evidence for his conclusion but says that when he explained his research and his logic to others, ''Most people I know who were close to him said, of course, that had to be it.''

There seems to have been a certain inevitability to the casting as well. The James Dean project bounced around for almost a decade. Leonardo DiCaprio tested for the role at age 19 but looked too young to play Dean; by the time he was old enough, he had become a mega-star in the film ''Titantic'' and wasn't going to be doing a television movie.

In retrospect, said Mr. Horovit, ''we are so lucky that we didn't get a movie star.''

''I think Jimmy Franco is a blessing for us,'' he said. ''He looks hauntingly like Jimmy Dean. The first time I saw him on the set, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.'' And if Mr. Franco seems to be playing the role 24 hours a day, Mr. Horovitz understands. When actors get a really meaningful role, he says, ''its takes them a little time to shake it.''

Photos: On the cover: James Franco as James Dean. (Doug Hyun/TNT)(pg. 1); Scenes from TNT's ''James Dean,'' clockwise from opposite page: James Franco as Jame Dean; Mr. Franco with Michael Moriarty as Dean's father, Winton; Enrico Colantoni (center) as the director Elia Kazan; and Mr. Franco with Mark Rydell, the director of ''James Dean,'' in his role as the producer Jack Warner. (Photographs by Doug Hyun/TNT)(pgs. 4,5)